When I used to be 12 I lost my period. Although I had taken sex education classes in middle school, nobody taught me what a period was, tips on how to regulate it, tips on how to take care of it, and most significantly, tips on how to notice irregularities and when or tips on how to seek medical help.
Many young people don't have a parent, guardian or trusted adult they will ask. I turned to online sources where I encountered misinformation that only increased my anxiety. I used to be told on reputable health web sites that I might need cancer or a terminal illness. It took months before a health care provider finally helped me discover the treatable health problem that was causing my irregular menstrual cycle.
I could have avoided a lot silent suffering and stress if I had learned to know my period.
California is a progressive state with a sturdy sex education curriculum, but there remains to be much work to be done to make sure young people understand our bodies. Our state just isn’t alone: Almost every state lacks curriculum requirements about menstruation.
This is a good larger problem since it is young people Onset of puberty earlier than previous generations.
Armed with this information concerning the urgent need for sex education that features menstruation, my colleagues and I at Solano Reproductive Health Club, together with a whole lot of young people across California, created this system Know your period campaignin favor of Assembly Bill 2229which we wrote and introduced in collaboration with Assemblymember Lori Wilson.
The first of its kind would update the 2016 proposal California Healthy Youth Act to incorporate age-appropriate facts about periods and provides young people the tools we want to know our bodies and development. It addresses period stigma, premenstrual syndrome and pain management, menstrual hygiene, disorders, irregularities and more.
As a young girl growing up in Solano County, I never thought I’d on the Capitol and asks lawmakers to pass a bill that I helped draft. Once passed by the Assembly Education Committee, it goes to the Appropriations Committee Suspense filebut we assume that things are moving forward.
The legislative process felt distant and unclear—something I definitely learned at school but had little to do with my day by day life. That modified when I noticed that my state's sex education curriculum had failed me and I needed to step up and advocate for young people like me.
Young women and girls in California and across the country should understand that it is feasible to beat society's divisions and make progress once we get up for issues that matter to us. I do know I'm young, but I've learned to make use of my voice and now I'm calling on my peers and the adults in our lives to make use of their voices too and embrace the Know Your Period campaign.
Being a youngster is isolating enough. No one should experience shame, confusion, or pain related to their period. That starts with education – and today with advocacy.
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